Mother Earth Monday: Small Scale Organic

Tthe United Nations is once again explaining the urgent need to return to a more sustainable, natural and organic system. That was the key point of a publication from the UN Commission on Trade and Development “Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake Up Before It’s Too Late,” which included contributions from more than 60 experts who insist major changes are needed in our food, agriculture and trade systems, and a dramatic shift toward local small-scale diversified farms. You know, like the good old days!

It also said that global trade rules should be reformed in order to work toward these ends, which is unfortunately the opposite of what mega-trade deals like the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the U.S.-EU Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are seeking to accomplish.
Of course, these pending deals are “primarily designed to strengthen the hold of multinational corporate and financial firms on the global economy…”

“This implies a rapid and significant shift from conventional, monoculture-based and high-external-input-dependent industrial production toward mosaics of sustainable, regenerative production systems that also considerably improve the productivity of small-scale farmers,” the report concludes.